Eadley Stoney was the first one into the bush; with help from his son Graeme they built Bluff Hut in 1956 carrying the materials in by packhorse. He was a noted character in the area, tough and hardened to the life on the land. Still, he was community minded and served as a local councillor. The mountain behind Bluff Hut was named Mt Eadley Stoney in his honour after he died in 1972.

Wanting to bring friends and tourists to explore and see the amazing area, Stoneys then ran cross country skiing trips in the winter into the mountains, mainly based at the Bluff Hut. However the trips were very tiring, and weather conditions were tough, and slowly these trips were phased out. Bushwalking trips were also started, but demand was not high enough to keep them going and they too were slowly stopped.
 
1982
Chris Stoney feeling that the farm was too small to sustain two families decided to branch out. What began as a group of school mates having a ride each year, progressed to the purchase of a few horses specifically for taking trips into the High Country and exploring the grazing lease on the Bluff and beyond as a legitimate trail ride business. From then the business has grown to be one of the most well recognised adventure activity outfits in Australia.

1992
Graeme Stoney was elected into the Upper House of State Parliament in Victoria, and began to fight for the rights of the people in the mountains, the issues of cattle in the bush, and tourism developments amongst many things. 

1997 onwards
Stoneys adventure business entered another strong growth phase

1997
Starting off with the addition of another location for shorter rides at the Pinnacle Valley Resort in the foothills of Mt Buller.

1998
The first style of the website was developed in 1998 and was a great start opening up new markets in North America, the UK, and Europe, and Asia. The trail rides become increasing popular and we ran 5 'Best in 5' rides and a 18 day feature ride this season.

The 18 day ride is filmed, later editing starts for the documentary, 'The Ride to Snowy River".

1999
Start of Stoneys Mt Buller as we start taking on rides on Mt Buller itself from Dec - May.

"The Ride to Snowy River" documentary is finished.

Our Website Mail Order service starts.  Products start being sent all over the world.

2000
Redevelopment of Stockyard Creek the rustic trip base in the Howqua Valley. New stove, a paint job, new decking, new bathroom floors, fencing horse paddocks and enlarging the lake.

Start of our highly successful partnership with Bruce and Debbie McCormack for rides that go to Craigs Hut on Mt Stirling.

2001
End of Stoneys Trail Rides at Mt Buller, as bad weather and the logistics of keeping horses on the mountain become too hard.

Moved farm office from Helen Stoney's house to our shop front in the main street of Mansfield.

Start of Stoneys High Country Store with our new office and retail venture, selling goods from all over the mountains and recognised Australian made and owned brands.

Official launch of the "Ride to Snowy River" Documentary with the grand opening of the new office and retail venture. Big Party !

McCormacks and Stoneys start targeting short rides and trips to Craigs Hut.

The longer rides have over the 16 years of operation gone from strength to strength with the number of rides increasing gradually to now cover many routes over the mountains culminating in a 22 day Feature Ride in 2001.

July - Stoneys win the State Tourism Awards in the Adventure Activity section !

Through the High Country Store and this website we start to take bookings for other local operators of Adventure Activities, such as 4WD tours, Mountain Biking, Fly Fishing, White Water Rafting, Hot Air Ballooning, and Scenic Flights.

2002
May - End of an Era
After another wonderful busy season, with each ride filled to capacity and demand for activities never higher the crunch came with the massive increase in Public Liability Insurance.

Premiums rose 250% from 2001 to 2002 even though we have never had a claim. Combined with the increasingly litigious society that we live in, and the arena that we were being forced to do business in we felt that the risks were too high, and that the rise in premiums was going to make the business unviable.

It took much heartbreaking deliberation we decide to finish our trail ride business. The last ever ride was over the 26/27th weekend in May and we held a massive Dispersal Sale on June 1st of all our beloved horses.

Stoneys continued to operate the High Country Store in Mansfield, as both a retail store and an adventure activity booking centre.

July 2002
As the farm has tripled in size over the last year it is time to get a bit more serious with the admin side of things too! Chris Stoney is now running about 25,000 sheep and 1000 cattle - so for those of you who only knew Stoneys as Tour Operators you can get a fair idea of what we are now going to be up to!

2003
January - bought Woodfield Estate, Bonne Doon, adding another 2,000 acres to the enterprise
September - bought Geoff & Maureen Adam's 420 acre property adjacent to our Glenroy country
October - bought LangleyDale Station, creating the northern arm of the enterprise, being 74,489 acres

2004
October - bought Hillview Station, north of Balranald, and neighbouring property to LangleyDale Station.  An additional 26,000 acres brings this northern operation to a total of 101,350 acres
October - Chris and Kim married on their home property, Minto Glen, just outside Mansfield

2005
Farming operations go from strength to strength, and with a great team on board we're achieving far greater efficiency and terrific camaraderie.  There are now over 42,000 ewes running around - that's a lot of lambs and a long shearing season !

31 July - Stoney's High Country Store ceased operations and truly marked the end of the trail ride era

This is where we are now, but as the saying goes.....Stay tuned !  

Thank you for your ongoing support !
Chris & Kim, Helen & all the crew.